


S&H drabble- Things You Said When You Were Crying

by Harrimaniac27



Category: Starsky and Hutch - Fandom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-05-07 12:33:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5456669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Harrimaniac27/pseuds/Harrimaniac27
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Short drabble: This came from a writing prompt on tumblr. It's a missing scene from The Heroes after Starsky shows Hutch the house he bought them and they have a heart-to-heart about why Starsky really bought the house.</p>
            </blockquote>





	S&H drabble- Things You Said When You Were Crying

“Look, Hutch, will you just humour me? Huh? Come over here…”

Hutch rolled his eyes, but he did follow Starsky across the squeaky floorboards of their…“new” house.

“I know it needs a lot of work, but wait’ll you see the bedrooms! They’re beautiful!”

Hutch apprehensively stepped over a box that had what looked like old photos and a few pieces of plumbing pipe in it as he followed Starsky down the narrow hallway.

“Starsk…”

“Come on, Hutch, look!”

Hutch watched Starsky disappear behind a large blue door at the end of the hallway. He reluctantly shouldered the creaky door open and looked into the dusty room. Starsky stood silhouetted against two big-picture windows across the room from a large, empty, four-poster brass bedframe. He gestured with his arms.

“What do you think, huh? Isn’t this great?”

Hutch had to admit, this room was probably beautiful when the house was first built, and as he looked around in awe, his mind started to betray his reluctance to participate in this little project. He caught himself picturing what his plants would look like on either side of the big windows, and how his bed would look where the old frame stood…but he suddenly shook his head, unwilling to let go of his stubborn distaste for the creaky house itself. At least not yet.

Starsky’s shoulders dropped.

“You hate it,” he said, turning around and running a hand through his hair.

“Well, ok…I know a hint when I see one. I’ll just…pay you back your half when I can.” He shrugged again and walked towards a door on the other end of the room. “I’m sorry I didn’t consult you a little more before making the decision, but…” Starsky stopped just inside the door, looking up at the ceiling. “Aw, Hutch….this house is fantastic.”

Hutch furrowed his brows and followed his partner through the door, finding himself in a dim bathroom that had also once been very beautiful. Astonishingly, almost all the blue tile that lined the long shower was still intact, and the tarnished silver faucet handles still read “hot” and “cold”.

“Built in 1936,” Starsky said in a distant voice, running his hand over the faucet with a sort of affectionate care.

Hutch looked down at the tile on the floor, which was also pretty well intact.

“I…didn’t realise how important this was to you.”

“Yeah…” Starsky let his arm fall to his side and sighed. “You know? Neither did I until I saw this place.”

He walked past Hutch and back out into the master bedroom.

“There’s just…somethin’ about it. You know what I mean?”

Hutch followed him back into the bedroom and nodded.

“Yeah, I know…but Starsk…why’d you want  _me_  to buy it with you?”

Starsky looked away from the antique light fixture on the ceiling and gave his partner a quizzical look.

“I mean,” Hutch leaned against one of the bedposts. “Isn’t this something people plan with their, uh…significant others?” He pretended to look around the room again, avoiding Starsky’s eyes.

“I dunno, Hutch, you’re a pretty significant person in my life.”

The words hit Hutch like a tonne of bricks, but he was sure Starsky hadn’t meant it the way he took it.

“No, Starsk, I mean…why aren’t you planning this with your girlfriend or something?”

Starsky laughed like Hutch’s words were the funniest thing since Buster Keaton. Hutch gave him a puzzled look as he watched him sit down on a crate near the bedframe and slap his knee.

“Whasso funny?”

“Aw, come on, Hutch, you  _know_  I don’t have a girlfriend.”

Starsky kept right on laughing, and Hutch kept right on being confused.

“Starsk, I mean that this is a…well, a family sort of thing.”

Starsky snorted.

“Yeah, like I’m ever gonna have a family!”

Hutch’s heart sank. That’s what this was about? And he was sitting here laughing about it?!

“Maybe you forgot,” Starsky laughed, pointing a finger in Hutch’s direction, “That the last time I fell in love with a girl, she left me so she could go take care of her mobster father? Huh? Or…or the time before that…when the girl I loved got…got shot in the head and died…because of me?”

Every word that Starsky said cut into Hutch’s chest so sharply that he actually found himself placing a hand over his ribcage.

“Starsk—”

“You think that—” Starsky paused; his laughter had been replaced by a cracking voice and his eyes were filled with tears. “You think that…this guy…is gonna get that fairytale family house with two kids and a dog and a cat and a white picket fence?” Starsky shook his head. “No, Hutch, I—” he sniffed. “I gave up that dream a long time ago.”

Hutch sat down on the bedframe. He understood now, and somehow that made it worse. He had silently shared the same broken dream for years. The difference was that he’d been married and divorced before…and he knew that Starsky had reserved himself to thinking that he’d never have even that.

“When you saw this place…and realised all of that…you still bought it?”

Starsky shrugged. “I guess…I guess I really bought it because—” he sniffed. “Well, I wanted something to build—” he cleared his throat. “Something to build with you that…wasn’t a case.”

“You—” Starsky closed his eyes when his voice cracked. He cleared his throat again. “Hutch,” he whispered. “The only person I knew…would be with me for as long as it took to restore this house…was you.”

Hutch hung his head and let silence fall over the both of them. He looked up at the big picture window.

“Besides…” Starsky said suddenly, sniffing and wiping his nose on the back of his sleeve. “Why shouldn’t friends be able to restore a house together?”

Hutch looked over at Starsky.

“Blue,” he said.

“What?”

“That wall should be blue. Light blue. Like the sky.” He looked down and took a breath, letting go of his stubborn-ness on the exhale. “And don’t worry about paying me back.”

Starsky smiled at his partner. Even if he couldn’t put it into words, he was glad that Hutch was supporting him on this. He’d have to find some way to thank him for it.


End file.
